The two parts of this text are based on two series of lectures delivered by Jean Berstel and Christophe Reutenauer in March 2007 at the Centre de Recherches Mathématiques, Montréal, Canada. Part I represents the first modern and comprehensive exposition of the theory of Christoffel words. Part II presents numerous combinatorial and algorithmic aspects of repetition-free words stemming from the work of Axel Thue--a pioneer in the theory of combinatorics on words.

A beginner to the theory of combinatorics on words will be motivated by the numerous examples, and the large variety of exercises, which make the book unique at this level of exposition. The clean and streamlined exposition and the extensive bibliography will also be appreciated. After reading this book, beginners should be ready to read modern research papers in this rapidly growing field and contribute their own research to its development.

Experienced readers will be interested in the finitary approach to Sturmian words that Christoffel words offer, as well as the novel geometric and algebraic approach chosen for their exposition. They will also appreciate the historical presentation of the Thue-Morse word and its applications, and the novel results on Abelian repetition-free words.

Titles in this series are co-published with the Centre de Recherches Mathématiques.

Readership

Graduate students and research mathematicians interested in combinatorics on words, theory of computation, symbolic dynamics, Markoff numbers, continued fractions, group theory, pattern recognition, and stringology.

Reviews

"The clean exposition of this short book, written in a pleasant style, makes it easy to read. Each chapter is enriched by many examples, exercises and references. It is an invitation for beginners to learn more about combinatorics on words. There is also no doubt that specialists will appreciate this text, especially when preparing their own lectures on the subject."